Farmers disbursed Rs 43.08 cr for paddy procurement in Amritsar district

With the total procurement of parmal varieties by the government procurement agencies reaching 35,183 metric tonnes on Saturday, farmers have been disbursed Rs 43.08 crore. Reviewing the progress of the procurement, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney held a meeting with officials of various departments and asked them to expedite lifting of stocks from mandis to generate space for fresh arrivals from agricultural fields.

The Deputy Commissioner said the purchase of basmati by private traders is also going on smoothly and so far, 3.32 lakh MT basmati has been procured. She said officials of the administration are ensuring that farmers get payment for their crop within 48 hours.

Meanwhile, Dr Ajay Gupta and Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjer, MLAs of the ruling party, also visited grain markets and claimed that the AAP government has done a massive work to ensure smooth procurement.

Dr Nijjer claimed that the lifting of paddy from mandis has broken all records this season as the stocks is being shifted immediately. Farmers too are not facing any problem. He said farmers should bring dry crop to the markets so that it could be procured instantly.

Meanwhile, the district administration, while taking note of the reports that farmers are being manipulated into selling their crop at a rate less than the minimum support price, has stated that action would be taken against the commission agent concerned, inspector of the mandi board and officials of procurement agencies if such reports are found true. The administration has also asked the farmers to bring such complaints to the Deputy Commissioner’s notice.